Our weekly Level 10 Meetings™ run on time but we realize we are solving problems that are actually just symptoms of systemic operational gaps. How do we run an IDS® session that specifically targets root-cause issues like process breakdowns or culture fit, rather than quick-fix band-aids?

Question

Tyler Smith · Accepted Answer

To get past the symptoms in your Level 10 Meetings™ you must master the Identify step of IDS®. Most leadership teams are too polite or too rushed. They rush to solve a problem before they actually know what the problem is. To fix this, you need to enforce a rule that no one can propose a solution until the actual root cause is clearly stated in one sentence.

Let us say a metric on your Scorecard is missed. The symptom is that marketing did not generate enough leads. Do not jump to creating a marketing Rock. Ask why five times. Was the marketing person overloaded? Do they lack the required skills? Or is the database outdated? This takes you from a surface issue like low leads to the root cause which might be a GWC™ issue in marketing or a broken process.

When you run IDS® look for three recurring systemic issues.
- First, people issues where someone does not GWC™ their seat.
- Second, process issues where your core processes are not documented or followed.
- Third, vision misalignment where team members are pulling in different directions.

If your team starts discussing solutions before the root cause is defined, the meeting leader must pause the conversation and ask: what is the single real issue we are trying to solve here? Force the team to sit in that uncomfortable silence until the real issue is articulated. This discipline turns your IDS® time into a tool that permanently kills problems rather than just managing symptoms.